You heard me. I wanna smack Seth Godin. Not because he done me wrong, or got up in my face, but because he provokes. He stirs up my soup. He says things that deep down you know you should be questioning about yourself and your business, things you cover up and hate to admit to, but never do.

The guy pushes buttons. He pushes my buttons. One minute I’m reading his blog or one of his books and get all excited about some new idea or blazing insight or unique spin on an old paradigm, and the next I’m ticked at myself for not following through on something, or zooming, or looking at my business the way I should be looking at it…like through a ferocious lens. (He’ll appreciate the ‘lens’ reference…squidoo)

He’s provoked me a lot lately. The provocation is usually a fine mix of inspiration and self flagellation. I get all hepped up about the idea, ready to implement, can’t wait to show the world the light bulb glowing above my head, while at the same time saying to myself, “Well why didn’t I think of that! How come I’m not already doing that? It’s so darn obvious!”

After watching the Tony Robbins video, and recommending it to EVERYONE I knew, I would have been remiss and a hypocrite to not follow through on the message and advice given. So here’s what I did…

After my morning swim, I headed to the sauna for my daily meditation. And instead of my usual ritual of focusing on what I choose to have in my life, I focused my intention on the RESULTS, as if I had already achieved those goals, and the euphoric feeling that’s associated with it. It was a major shift, to say the least.

I kept thinking, “Peak State, Peak State, Peak State.” Not “For Pete’s Sake,” but “Peak State.” After 15 minutes of sweating like a banshee (but unaware of the heat because of the visions I saw with my third eye), I showered quickly, got dressed, and grabbed my notebook. (I always carry a notebook with me…the basic black and white composition kind).

My head was filled with ideas. I wrote like a madman. I’m about to introduce a new product to the real estate niche, so I’d been thinking about it for some time. To be honest, I was feeling stuck. But what came out of me and onto the page was how I was going to let folks know what the product is, how it was created, why I created it, and so many of the answers I was looking for. And all this ‘stuff’ just poured out onto the page. My pen and fingers couldn’t keep up with my brain.

It was such an amazing feeling to see the results and answers I’d been searching for for weeks suddenly materialize and manifest on the page IN JUST ONE SHOT! And I can’t seem to turn off the faucet. Product ideas, marketing ideas, story ideas, copy ideas just keep flowing…days after that first initial minor tweak in focus. I can’t stop writing!

So now that I tapped that potential, took action, and manifested results, my beliefs about what is possible and what can be achieved has changed as well…from uncertainty to certainty.

Give it a shot. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to change your world.

My wife, 1 year old daughter, and I were living in Los Angeles back in 2001. The townhouse we were renting was haunted. No joke. Saw shadows moving, sounds, noises all the time. What bugged me most was that I was paying rent and the spirits were squatting rent free. On top of that, the neighborhood where we resided was prone to crime. So just about every night, police surveillance helicopters whomped above us and blared their high beam search lights right into our bedroom window. My daughter was having breathing issues due to the poor air quality. Couple that with the choppers and apparitions, I’m pretty sure the universe was sending my wife and me a message to get out of Dodge. Well, I’m not one to mess with the universe, so I listened.I was in LA because of my work. I was in the entertainment industry, freelancing at various production houses and studios in town: E!, Fox, Saban, NBC, writing and producing for film and television. Enjoyed my work, but had to do find a way to improve my daughter’s health and preserve our sanity.In short, we needed a better quality of life. Our goal was to get to Sedona, AZ. In fact, this was our goal for years. How to get there and what to do for work once I did get there were the answers I was looking for. Well, as fate would have it, I was led to real estate. Don’t ask me why or how. I didn’t know the first thing about real estate investing. Didn’t know the language, how to get started, or even how to spell the word “howse.” In a very short 3 months, between Feb and April of ’01, my life changed. With my wife’s insight to the world…my world… she said real estate ‘is it.’ She knew, I didn’t. But I listened. We had very little money. I worked paycheck to paycheck. When I mentioned to her that I met a couple–who were very successful real estate investors who learned what they know at a ‘big shot guru’ real estate bookcamp–she said, “Go! This is it. This is our ticket out of here. I know it.”I charged the $5k we didn’t have to our credit card and spent 5 days at a real estate seminar, feeling totally lost and depressed. But something happened. I followed the “Action Guide” the guru gave us. The guide said that if I followed the steps outlined, I’d make $10k within 90 days. I never made $10k in one shot in my life. 45 days after leaving the bootcamp, my heart skipped a beat when one of the many offers I put in on houses in AZ got accepted. Needless to say, I was scared to death. Now what? Well, within 3 weeks we lease optioned the house for a $15,000 profit and $311 a month cashflow. I was floored.Within 6 months, we bought 5 more rental properties in Northern AZ with none of our own money and moved out of LA and to Sedona in November 2001.Today, my company specializes in short sales. We’ve been negotiating short sales for the past 6 years. Hundreds and hundreds of them. I love to negotiate. Stick around for some great insight and secrets on how to effectively negotiate mortgage and lien discounts with loss mitigators, creditors, the IRS, and any lienholder.

I’m a descendant of the family of man. I grew up in Ocean Township, NJ over half century ago. Spent my youth at the beach negotiating waves and beating up my younger brother. My dad was a lifetime public school administrator and my mom was a nurse. Hard-working parents.

Really loved my childhood. My mother welcomed all the neighborhood kids into our house to play and raid the fridge. Jersey was a temperate clime, so we played baseball in the summer, football in the fall, threw blistering ice balls at each other in winter, and healed our wounds in the spring…only to repeat the cycle all over again. And beat up my brother.

As a kid, to make money, I’d go door to door negotiating with neighbors to use my services to rake the leaves or shovel snow or to buy greeting cards they didn’t need. I remember always working, even at a young age, because I enjoyed it and the invigorating feeling of pulling my own weight.

Graduated Ocean Township High School. Went to Emory University in Atlanta, GA in the 70’s. My hair looked like Linc from the Mod Squad. If the reference is dated, think Malcolm Gladwell or Art Garfunkel. Get the picture? Not pretty. Dates were hard to come by…no surprise there.

Majored in Biology and took lots of sciences. Thought I wanted to go to Med School, but instead went to Dental School. But only for a year. Because while in college, my main love was comedy. Directed and performed in an improvisational sketch comedy group for 4 years. I left dental school after my freshman year and moved to Chicago to study with Second City. I found my bliss, my passion!

Performed in two improv groups for a couple years, then started doing standup comedy. This was in the early 80’s. My standup career lasted 15 years. Moved from Chicago to New York City in ’85 and settled in at The Improv as my home club. Worked the circuit, went on the road, did some tv. Really loved making peeps laugh. When the club scene fizzled in the early 90’s due to over exposure and saturation, I started performing on cruise ships. Worked all over the Caribbean. Had a blast.

In ’95, my girlfriend (now wife) and I moved to LA. I was writing screenplays, so I figured LA’s the place to be. Plus, I just got a new agent who was very encouraging. While making the production rounds, I made my way as a copywriter and producer for tv and film promos, trailers, epk’s, movies, popular shows like Seinfeld and Frasier, kids’ programming, news and sports, and sales packages.

Got married in ’96 to the most amazing woman on the planet. Been together 17 years and it keeps getting better. Our daughter was born in ’99. In ’01 we moved to Sedona to raise her in the clean air and natural beauty. My career also changed…drastically. Plunged into real estate investing knowing very little about real estate.

Took a bootcamp and WHAMMO! I’m an investor. Go figure. With my wife’s support (since we had little money, I needed all the help I could get) I learned how to buy houses with no money and no credit. In 18 short months we bought 40 houses with none of our own money. Rentals and lease options. Fell into short sales in ’03. Found I had a knack for negotiating with the banks. Been negotiating short sales full time ever since.

So over the past few years I’ve taught and coached investors short sales and how to negotiate effectively. Feel very fortunate to have learned from some wonderfully talented, smart, and generous people. Belonging to several mastermind groups over the years has also helped. Invaluable, actually. I surround myself with people and businessfolk who keep me on my toes, honest, call me on my bs, and give it to me straight. We share ideas, strategies, and stay current with the market and all the changes and challenges that are taking place at lightning speed.